Cedric Cromwell issued a gag order to tribal employees.  No talking to each other or people outside the Council  about the outrageous behavior of  council members.  Primarily his wife and others who are supposed to be setting an example of good government. Reportedly the Council  has been inundated with wigs for First Lady Cheryl  Frye Cromwell who has been in hiding following her battle royal in Pequot land.  It’s become so absurd that you have to wonder what Cedric’s thinking ?  It’s not like anyone pays attention to what he says and those rediculous emails he sends out

Last week,one of the original investors who thought Cedric and Mark Harding would actually honor contracts and pay investors, finally exploded and sent a nasty email to Cedric calling him an as-hole.  Cedric immediately circulated it to everyone on the Council looking for sympathy.  All he got was hysterical laughter…..

Matter of fact no one pays him attention on Beacon Hill either.  Looks like he’s experiencing ” Investors Revenge” and  collaboration with investigators, who have thrown up all kinds of blockades designed to keep him from GTP ( Gettin That Paycheck). The gaming bill will never pass in a form where Cedric and crew get paid free and clear. Course there’s no benefit to the tribal members with the commercial gaming bill, but that’s never been the focus.  Seems the newspapers have never told that story….too much work t researching the Indian Gaming Act and drawing the comparison to commercial.

Anyway, the bill is loaded with, let’ s call them inhibitors  like ” vetting the investors” verifying “the finances” of the entities involved, land into trust, approval by the communities and the communities adjoining the communities where the casino is located and the tribe  will experience the state’s credit check basically which is tantamount to Chinese Water Torture where the tribe’s finances are concerned.  Everyone who had their hands in the till will have to explain what happened to $24 million over two years. And no one really knows how much money is involved.  Then there are the threatened lawsuits .  Who would do business with an administration like this?  So the recall continues.

Cheryl and Cedric Cromwell loving a good fight

Mashpee Wampanoag First Lady Cheryl Frye Cromwell went beyond her ambassadorial duties at the Pequot pow wow this past weekend in Connecticut.  A tribal member who witnessed the episode Sunday night told the story on condition that their identity  remain anonymous.  Reportedly,  Cheryl Frye Cromwell  shoved a Pequot woman pretty hard and the woman shoved back.  It digressed to a fist fight hair pulling brawl.  Frye Cromwell, who is pushing 50, the mother of 5 and several grandchildren, reportedly is missing large clumps of hair. Her husband, Chairman Cedric Cromwell reportedly tried to separate the screaming cursing women without success as they rolled around clearing a path. We don’t know if assault charges have been filed. Such is the legacy of Cedric of Dorchester  losing the battle and the war courtesy of his lovely wife Cheryl. Such exemplary representation of the tribe.

Frye Cromwell has a long history of erratic behavior.  When elected to the Council, during meetings, she would stomp around the Council conference table,where members were seated, constantly rolling her eyes, making snide remarks and disrupting the meeting. Of course   countless other episodes have occurred….totaled out tribal cars (no police report), the misrepresentation of her title and role in the tribal health office.  The misrepresentation of her level of education and lack of professional credentials, which seems to be a husband wife thing. A legacy tribal members don’t want to be reminded of.

On to more bad business.  The administration is in default for the tenth time on the farm. Yet they’re opening a New Bedford office this weekend, to appease the Helms family.  The Helms family that  heretofore had nothing to do with the tribe, has been waiting for all Cedric’s promises to come true, so this office is some kind of appeasement? Who will run it.  They say it’ s the famous Bobby Foster ! His mom Joanne Frye has been demoted and works under Leon who is the Tribal Administrator  (purely because the Self Determination grant mandates it). And Marge is out of finance and over  there with Leon.

A little press release that appeared as a story  in the CCT about the Community center is old news .  The Cromwell administration dug it out and recycled it  because it was getting loads of bad press. Apparently the paper fell for it and failed to mention that the money was secured by the previous administration.  Mark Harding looks sooooooooo  happy because  he has cornered the market on contracts designated for Native Americans…and he grabs them despite the fact that he has been told he cannot sit on the governing board that  allocates money to his company, let alone be the treasurer.  The story of Mark Harding and that extremely expensive ramp for the health facility and his very slow itty bitty payment to the woman who actually built it, is worse than you would believe. It’s called conflict of interest and a violation of federal law. The feds don’t like that.

Oh yeah….Cedric and his administration plan to tear down the historic tribal council building that was given to us years ago.  That’s comparable to erasing an important part of our history.  But if you just made it on to the rolls in 2006 you have no idea what’s important to our people and what’s not do you ?

USDA Rural Development Financing Provides Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Government Center and Health Clinic, Creating or Saving Over 300 JobsThe Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Mashpee, Massachusetts, was awarded a $12.7 million Community Facilities Recovery Act Direct Loan from USDA Rural Development on August 23, 2010. The loan will be used to construct a 46,000 square foot Tribal Government Center and Health Clinic. Signing the loan: Picture (L-R) USDA RD Business and Cooperative Specialist Jennifer Lerch, Tribe Chairman Cedric Cromwell and Tribe Treasurer Mark Harding.

Everyone loves Florida.  Year round.  It is fertile for gaming and Genting is all over it with half a billion spent already on bringing commercial gaming to the sunshine state.  Brian Ballard is leading the charge for the Chinese gambling moguls.  So he’s getting paid.  Make no mistake, the state legislature is eyeballing commercial casinos because the Republicans control the legislature.

Understand the contrast.  Massachusetts has a budget of 30 billion dollars. Florida has a budget of 64 billion dollars. So Mashpee is an after thought for sure. But the 26 million dollars in debt is still there at 16.5%.  There is no tangible evidence of what that money was spent on beyond the Council salaries. It is an atrocity.

Back to Florida….Remember the Seminoles are most substantial.  After all they never surrendered to the US Government.  They know about independence and the importance of being able to function without a tin cup…..as for the Mashpee….

What’s the plan to get us out of this ditch Cedric has us in? Who has that answer? Right.  What’s the plan?

This is the legal tribal logo that was substituted for a giant cartoon turtle and other irrelevant symbols.

Traditionalists are extremely angry with the Cromwell administration. ( The Wanabee Wamps, recently enrolled, without paperwork, added by Jessie Tobey Baird,  have long since left the building).  Not only have tribal hopes for the future been dashed by his self serving bungling and ineptness, now he’s trying to set up a separate tribe through the Federal Charter of Incorporation.  The Charter,  goes to the DOI for approval don’t you know. It  allows an evenly numbered panel of tribal members (Ahh….Cedric, Aaron Markie etal) and “non tribal members” to run the new tribe.  The Charter Tribe can buy and dispose of  “tribal land,” establish businesses,  acquire debt all in the name of the Mashpee and on and on.

So the families of Cedric and Aaron will show up and vote for the Charter tribe and to keep jobs they would never have outside of the tribe.  Who would have thought it. Our destiny is in their hands. Who would ever imagine?

They  don’t understand that just like the Narragansett Housing Director arrested for embezzlement, they’re responsible for misappropriation.   Already the BIA is asking for refunds for our mismanaged grants, the Juvenile Justice in particular. People were not in the grant specs, and were hired and getting paid. Yvonne in particular.   The government wants that money back….right away. Oh boy.

Vote to allow Cedric, Aaron and Markie to keep running us into the ground and in debt?  The Charter allows them to keep getting paid and doing more damage to an ancient culture they know nothing about.

Now…what does this look like to you? That’s because you’re exactly right

Let’s look closer at the disintegration of the Cromwell Empire where desperation reigns.  Let’s look at your Charter Tribe.  Mark Tilden the Indian lawyer for Cedric and Markie, has been cozying up to Elders and others who have documents to solidify the Charter Tribe.  Tilden went to Aunt Dart to get the coveted documents in her blue folder.  That would be deeds and valued documents for the Parsonage, the Old Indian Cemetery, 55 Acres , and the housing land on Meeting House Road…what’s left of it. Her grandson intervened and stopped that little slight of hand. Thus Cedric canceled the last Wednesday’s Council meeting.

Then there’s the old Grant Pilfering Routine that has reared it’s ugly head again because the Malaysians have disappeared with their money.  No cash so  no money to pay salaries. They wouldn’t allow the hiring of 3 tribal members on a new $167,000 grant, as was allowed….guess they have plans for that money. Clearly no part of the  economic development plan.

The silly search for casino land sent Cedric to Plymouth last week. He clearly does not know those people hate us.  And…want nothing to do with us. The Senate President does not  want a casino in Plymouth…neither does anyone in Plymouth

Cedric should have stayed in Dorchester..or where ever.

Now, as Reel Wamps said a year ago.  Middleboro will sue the tribe. You have to wonder how much more pain these people will inflict on us and how much more we can take.

Reading this story will tell you what we already told you with one very disturbing addition.  We  were reminded that if  by some miracle the tribe get’s its land into trust, and finally achieves “real” sovereignty…. the bill says we would have to give it all up for a commercial casino. And promise not to open a ” sovereignty casino” independent of the state. That LIT sovereignty business is a serious weapon and the state is frightened of it because we are the only northeastern tribe that can pretty much do as it pleases without state permission.  Course we didn’t have the leaders to finalize the last step.

So the bill says the tribe must give up it’s sovereignty to get a casino. Now there’s some question as to whether the state can legally  supersede the federal government and order the tribe to do that…but the idea that we would be so desperate to get a casino ( that cannot guarantee  the members a dime), that we would sign away our independence is disgusting.

The Aquinnah gave up nearly everything to obtain recognition.  Their sovereignty is extremely limited and they must get permission from the state to open a casino.

Our 37 year fight for recognition will be in vain if we go down this road because there is no guarantee that members get any money.

And guess who would seal that deal? Cedric Cromwell.

SouthCoastTODAY

Developers challenge Indian preference in casino bill

By Steve Urbon

surbon@s-t.com

August 28, 2011 12:00 AM

NEW BEDFORD — Lawyers for casino developers are objecting to the state’s proposed casino gambling legislation’s preference for Native Americans as an unconstitutional breach of the equal protection clause in the Fourteenth Amendment, a special deal based on ethnicity.

KG Urban Enterprises, which is proposing a casino at the abandoned NStar plant on Cannon Street, hired attorney Marsha Sajer to look into the matter. She claims “the states have no power to enact a state law preference for tribes” and that only the federal government can deal with tribes as sovereign nations.

The opinion, a copy of which was given to The Standard-Times by KG Urban, signals that a legal battle lies ahead even if the Legislature and Gov. Deval Patrick enact by the end of September as expected a compromise bill that would authorize three casinos and one slot parlor statewide.

The bill state carves out a narrow opportunity — only in Bristol and Plymouth counties, plus the Cape and Islands, an area called Region C — for tribes to find land, win a local referendum and negotiate a compact with the governor.

Tribes (likely the Mashpee Wampanoag, who are scouting for land) have only until next July to get all of this done.

The casino developers complain that they are being put at an unfair and illegal disadvantage for the first year, because Regions A and B (Boston and Western Massachusetts) can begin their casino projects almost immediately while in Region C everyone has to wait a year, and could be shut out altogether if a tribe wins a no-bid contract.

In setting such tight deadlines, the state’s top political players heeded the request of several SouthCoast lawmakers and gave Native American tribes very limited preferential treatment in a proposed casino bill, said state Rep. Antonio F,D, Cabral, D-New Bedford.

Casino watcher Clyde Barrow at the UMass Dartmouth Center for Policy Analysis said that the Mashpee Wampanoag are virtually certain to make the attempt together with their commercial partner, Genting of Malaysia, the largest casino company in the world.

But even with all that backing, the tribe needs Congress to pass legislation allowing that land to be put into trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, something that has never happened before.

Cabral said that if the new state gaming commission doesn’t think the tribe is on track to get congressional approval by next fall, it will go ahead with casino license auctions in Region C.

John Toohey, an equity partner in KG Urban Enterprises, which proposes a casino resort at the Cannon Street NStar site, was upbeat about the prospects despite the tribal angle. “We’ve always looked for an opportunity to bring some of those jobs and open up the waterfront and clean up what would otherwise be a Superfund site for who knows how long.”

Finally, the tribe, having withdrawn from Fall River after the city reverted to its biotech park project where a casino might have been, continues to shop around in Bristol and Plymouth counties, most recently in Raynham, where discussions with racetrack owners reportedly fizzled.

Barrow said he isn’t concerned that a casino or two elsewhere along with a slot parlor will saturate the market before Southeastern Massachusetts can get into the game.

That is because the state must create a gaming commission, which ultimately would accept bids ($85 million minimum) for a commercial casino. And that will take time.

Barrow said, “It will six months to get the gaming commission up and running, hiring staff and employees. They will probably have to hire 100 people or more.

“Then they’re going to have to lay out a detailed process for submitting a bid. And anyone who wants to bid will have to have a referendum in place as part of a bid application. And there are requirements for public review and 30-day waiting periods. I can’t see them actually awarding a license in less than a year.”

Barrow pointed out that if the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe makes make a deal with the governor, and the land can be put in trust, it will remove the possibility that someday the tribe would assert its rights under the Indian Gaming Rights Act and Massachusetts could have an unwanted fourth casino.

State Rep. Robert Koczera, D-New Bedford, called this the tribe’s “window of opportunity,” and he expects them to use it.

“Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoags, was pretty adamant in conversations with me that the tribe has rights and wants rights to land,” Koczera said. “I believe he needs an act of Congress but Congress won’t act anytime soon.”

The proposed legislation, he said, gives the tribe the fair chance it has been looking for. Otherwise, luck will run out next August.